Five things India needs to do to play in the FIFA World Cup

Focus on getting better in Asia

India is currently 28th in Asia

While many Indians dream of seeing their nation in the World Cup, the reality is that we are not even close to playing regularly in the Asian Cup. India is currently 28th in the continent and even their dominance in the sub-continent was ended by Afghanistan last year. With Asia having only four and a half slots for the FIFA World Cup, India have to get closer to the top five to qualify for the game’s biggest stage. So the immediate aim has to be to improve at continental level and thus the senior national team need to get regular international exposure. India needs to play higher ranked Asian countries both home and away and improve their FIFA Ranking. It is important that the senior team utilises each and every FIFA match date and be in regular action. This year for the third straight summer India weren’t in action and they have only played one international match so far in this calendar year. The expansion of the Asian Cup to 24 teams from the 2019 edition is an encouragement but the qualifying process will be gruelling as the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers will be merged. India must only focus on improving in Asia for now.